Reversing-switch for electric motors



4 N A M R E G G l REVERSING SWITCH FOR ELBGTRIG MOTORS. No. 510,596.

Patented De0. 12, 1893'.

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No. 510,596. Patented De0.12,1893.

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J. G. GERMANN. REVERSING SWITCH FOR ELECTRIC MOTORS.

No. 510,596 Patented Dec. 12, 1893.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN G. GERMANN, OF ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA.

REVERSlNG-SWITCH FOR ELECTRIC MOTORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters IPatent No. 510,596, datedDecember 12, 1893.

Application filed April 19, 1893, Serial No. 470,932. (No motleld To allwhom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN G. GERMANN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Erie, in the county of Erie and State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Reversing-Switches forElectric Motors; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to reversing switches for electric motors, andconsists in certain improvements in the construction thereof, as isherein fully set forth and pointed out in the claims.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, as follows:

Figure l is a perspective View of a reversing switch for electric motorsin which my invention is embodied. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the samewith the actuating wheel in horizontal section. Fig. 3 is an endelevation looking from the right of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a side elevationof the shafts, B B at their point of connection, and of the insulatingblock between them, said shafts being broken off. Fig. 5 is a section onthe line 5-5 in Fig. 2, and shows the parts shown in Fig. l inelevation, looking from the left of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a view like Fig.3, showing an alternative construction.

The primary object of the invention is to provide means for making aquick break of the circuit without turning the switch shaft quickly.

The secondary objects of the invention relate to details ofconstruction, and will be fully explained herein.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts in all the figures.

A marks the base board; A, a noncombustible super-base, usually made ofslate; A the mounting for the revoluble part of the switch; B B are theshaft sections of said revoluble part. These two shaft sectionselectrical connection.

may be made of any suitable material, such as porcelain, glass,india-rubber or vulcanized fiber, which latter I generally use.

At the outer end of the shaft-section,B, there is a propelling sprocketwheel,D,which is attached to a centering, O, that is also of insulatingmaterial, so there can be no electrical connection between the shaftsection, B, and the means for moving said revoluble part, saidcentering, 0, being attached to a disk, W, at the outer end of saidshaft. At the outer end of the shaft section, B,is adisk E, havingthereon a bracket, E, and lugs, cc, and e 6 A circuit forming andbreaking lever or key, F, is pivoted on the shaft, B,between the disk,E, and bracket, E, and its pivotal action is limited by the lugs, e e,and is resisted by springs, e e, attached to the lugs, e 6 and bearingupon the lug, f, on said key.

Mounted on the super-base, A, on each side of, and in line with the key,F, are the contact posts, G G, upon which the said key acts. Thesecontact posts are bifurcated at their upper ends, so as to form jaws, g,between which the key, F, is held when in contact with said posts, andsaid jaws are so formed as to exertasulficient degree of pressure uponthe key to hold it against movement by the force of the springs, e c.For example, in Fig. 1, the lever, F, is shown asin contact with one ofthe posts, G, and engaged by the jaws, g. Now when the revoluble part ofthe switch is moved back to the left, the key, F, will be retained bythe jaws, and cause said key to turn on its pivot on the shaft andovercome the spring, e, at the right, until the lug, e, on the disk, E,contacts with the key, and then the key must move with the shaft anddisk, and will be disengaged from the jaws, and when this occurs, thespring, e, will act and quickly throw the key away from the post, thuseffecting a quick breaking of the connection. It will be noted that theshaft, B, will not have been accelerated in its movement, but the quickaction is wholly by the key, F, being suddenly thrown forward by theaction of the spring, e.

It is well understood in the art that in switches of this class, it isnecessary that the breaking of connection must be made with suddennessin order to prevent burning the contact points, and this has heretoforebeen elfected by a quick movement of the means by which the revolublepart of the switch is actuated; but in certain cases this is notpractical or desirable, as, for example, in operating motors in placeswhere the switch is not under the immediate control of the operators,but is operated by connections from a distance, as in elevators and manyother places. In all such places my device is of great utility as itinsures a quick breaking of connection without any care or attention inthat particular by the operator as he can move the switch actuatingdevice uniformly at a moderate speed throughout its entire movement andthe quick action necessary to break the contact properly will beperformed automatically by the means just described. I do not intend tobe limited to the precise construction just described, and in Fig. 6, Ihave illustrated an alternative construction for the purpose of showingthat the means for efiecting the desired result may be varied. In thisalternative construction, the key, F is rigid and unyielding, while theconnecting contact posts, G G, are jointed and made yielding until thepoints, g g, contact, when it becomes rigid, and the frictional contactof the key, F in the jaws of the post, G, must be broken as therevoluble part continues its movement. A spring, e resists and istensioned by the deflection of said yielding part, and when the contactis broken, quickly separates the parts by instantly reinstating theyielding part to its normal position.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the essential features are thatthe contact between the key and the post shall be by a slipping ordisengaging clutch of some kind, which, as the switch is thrown in thereverse direction from either contact, in disengaging overcomes ortensions a spring which, as soon as the clutch is finally disengaged,will quickly separate the lately contacted parts without acceleratingthe movement of the revoluble part of the switch.

Heretofore, so far as I am informed, the revoluble part of the switchhas been made in the form of a cylinder formed often of blocks of woodon the shaft sections, and the contact plates are laid onto the surfaceand metallically connected with the shafts by screws or bolts thatextend from the plates to the shafts. In my construction, I make therevoluble part in skeleton form, using no wood or other substance toform a cylinder. The shafts, B and B, are cast with arms, h, on whichare formed the contact plates, H and H, and the bridging contact plate,H I fasten to the insulating block, 0. I find this construction verysimple, cheap and durable. I, J, K, L, M and I, J, K, L, M mark thenonrevoluble contact plates, and. N, the springs that hold said platesin contact with the revoluble plates, H, H, H; W, W, W W W W and W markthe various connecting wires. When the key, F, is in contact withclutch, G, the current passes from the wire, WV, through clutch, G, key,F, shaft, B, contact, H, brush, 1, through fields of motor to brush, J,over bridge contact, H through brush K, through armature of motor tobrush, L, by contact, H, and shaft, B, to return wire, W. When theswitch is reversed, the current passes from wire, W, through clutch, G,key, F, shaft, B, contact, H, brush, 1', through fields of motor tobrush, J, over bridge contact, H through brush,L wire Vt, brushconnection of brush, L, to armature, through armature to brushconnection of brush K, through wire,

W to brush, K, through contact, H ,by shaft, B, to return wire, W. Itwill be noted that when key, F, is contacted with clutch, G, the currentpasses from brush, K, through the armature to brush, L; and that whenthe key, F, is reversed and in contact with clutch, G the current passesfrom brush, L, through the armature to brush, K, thus effecting thereverse. The brushes, M and M, carry the shunt circuit.

W'hat I claim as new is 1. In a reversing switch for electric motors,the combination with the connecting contact posts and the revoluble partof said switch of a disengaging clutch through which the contact betweensaid posts and said revoluble part is established and a spring that 1stensioned by the disengaging throw of the sw1tch in either direction andwhen the disengagement of the clutch is effected reacts and quicklyseparates the lately engaging parts, without accelerating the movementof the revoluble part of the switch.

2. In a reversing switch for electric motors, the combination with therevoluble part of said switch and the connecting contact posts of acontact key carried by said revoluble part which engages said posts by adisengaging clutch, means whereby one of said contacted parts will yieldas the switch is thrown in the reverse direction from either contactbefore said clutch can he disengaged and a spring that is tensioned bythe deflection of said yielding part and quickly reinstates the same assoon as the said clutch is disengaged substantially as and for thepurposes set forth.

3. In a reversing switch for electric motors, the combination with therevoluble part of said switch and the connecting contact posts of acontact key carried by said revoluble part which engages said posts by afriction clutch, means whereby one of said contacted parts yields as theswitch is thrown in the reverse direction from either contact beforesaid friction clutch can be disengaged and a spring that is tensioned bythe deflection of said yielding part and quickly reinstates saidyielding part as soon as the friction clutch is disengaged,substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4. In a reversing switch for electric motors, the combination with therevoluble part of said switch and the connecting contact posts,

of a key carried by said revoluble part, that is yielding in eitherdirection a spring device having a neutral point that is tensioned bythe yielding of said key in either direction and a clutch on said poststhat engages said key and holds it against release throughout itsyielding action, but releases it when said key ceases to yield,substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

5. In a reversing switch for electric motors, the combination with therevoluble part of said switch and the connecting contact posts, of a keycarried by said revoluble part, that is yielding in either direction aspring device having a neutral point that is tensioned by the yieldingof said key in either direction anda friction clutch on said post thatengages said key and holds it against release throughout its yieldingaction, but releases it when said key ceases to yield, substantially asand for the purposes set forth.

6. In a reversing switch for electric motors, the combination with therevoluble part of said switch and the connecting contacting posts, of afriction clutch on said posts consisting of the jaws, g g, a disk, E, onthe said revoluble part of said switch, a contact key, F, pivoted on theshaft of said revoluble part and limited in its pivotal action by lugs,e e, on said disk and springs, e 6, carried by said disk that aretensioned by the pivotal action of said key, substantially as and forthe purposes set forth.

7. In a reversing switch for electric motors, the combination with thenon-revoluble contact plates, of a revoluble part consisting of theshaft sections B B, connected and insulated from each other by theinsulating block, 0, said shaft sections having arms extending therefromwhich carry the revoluble contact plates, II and H, and the intermediateor bridging contact plate, H being attached to said insulating block, 0.

S. In a reversing switch for electric motors, the combination with therevolnble part of said switch of the shaft sections, B B, the spiders,b, on said sections and the insulating block, 0, between said spidersand secured thereto.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN G. GERMAN-N.

Witnesses:

JNo. K. HALLOCK, O. B. HAYES.

